Yarmuth: GOP lawsuit against Obama is a "tantrum"

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WASHINGTON - A Republican plan to sue President Barack Obama over implementation of the health care reform law is a "tantrum" that will cost American taxpayers, Kentucky Rep. John Yarmuth said Tuesday.

House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, last week announced his intention to file a lawsuit against the president over his delay of the employer mandate in the Affordable Care Act, a provision that requires most employers to provide health care coverage or be subject to a fine.

The Republicans actually had asked for that delay, but Boehner objects to Obama acting unilaterally.

Yarmuth blistered the GOP move.

"This is a taxpayer-funded tantrum and a lawsuit they don't even want to win," the Louisville Democrat said.

A new poll released Tuesday by the Democratic-leaning Public Policy Polling, commissioned by the liberal group Americans United for Change, found 51 percent of Americans saying Boehner's suit is a political stunt.

In addition, 56 percent said it was a bad use of taxpayer funds. Forty-one percent of those surveyed said the suit was legitimate.

Of course, the Republicans and Democrats are battling for House and Senate seats in the mid-term elections. Both sides see an advantage in the lawsuit, illustrated by the fact that the two parties' campaign committees are making the issue part of their pitches to potential donors.

Boehner insists congressional power has been diluted by the president's executive orders on Obamacare.

"If this president can get away with making his own laws, future presidents will have the ability to as well," Boehner said in a statement. "The House has an obligation to stand up for the legislative branch, and the Constitution, and that is exactly what we will do."

White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest dismissed the suit as a costly waste of time.

"At a time when Washington should be working to expand economic opportunities for the middle class, Republican leaders in Congress are playing Washington politics rather than working with the President on behalf of hardworking Americans," Earnest said in a statement.